Doncaster death driver posted selfies inside prison with the captions 'making a joke of the system' and 'jail life'

George Torr

An arrogant yob jailed for killing two people in a fireball crash posted selfies on Facebook inside Doncaster prison with the captions 'making a joke of the system' and 'jail life'.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how Doncaster death driver James Maughan, 23, of Marshland Road, Moorends, uploaded selfies with other prisoners while on remand before his trial of death by dangerous driving. He was later convicted and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

When the pictures were posted on the social media site between October 22 and November 5 last year, Maughan was waiting to be tried on charges including two counts of causing death by dangerous driving relating to a fatal crash in the village of Branton on August 25, 2015.

A jury found Maughan guilty of the high speed crash killing Liam Aldred, 26, and Dean McIntyre, 27, who were passengers in the backseat of a Renault Megane Sport 225 hatchback.

The car went up in flames and Maughan fled to Swansea to get hospital treatment, leaving the two passengers trapped inside.

His Honour Judge Julian Goose QC added an extra 21 months to his sentence in which Maughan's defence barrister labelled the mobile phone offences as 'stupid'.

Michael Slater prosecuting said: "A friend of one of the deceased had seen pictures of the defendant inside the prison which had been posted on Facebook.

"One image had the caption 'making a joke of the system' and it was clearly inside the prison and another caption of 'jail life'.

"These pictures caused considerable upset to one of the families of the deceased. The police were then contacted."

The court heard prison officers at HMP Doncaster found three mobile phones in separate searches that Maughan had used to post the images on Facebook and calls made to his girlfriend.

Richard Veni, defending, said: "There is no suggestion that the defendant was using any of these phones to carry out criminal activity or to bring other items into the prison. They are the actions of a young immature man in prison.

"It was always going to lead to this result."

Maughan, who appeared via video-link from HMP Nottingham, pleaded guilty to the offences at an earlier hearing.

Judge Goose QC said: "I'm confident you have not used any of these mobile phones for criminal activity, but the fact remains that anyone could use these phones to commit criminal acts."